New Yorkers call their city The Big Apple. Have a bite and enjoy it, they say. In The City of Lights, Paris, it never gets dark since people work, shop, eat and drink at any hour of the day. London is nicknamed The Big Smoke …
There are many cheap pizzerias, hamburger joints, loud bars and dance halls, but also beautiful theaters and cinemas. Leidse Square is the place where (especially) younger people go at night to have a good time. If you have time, do stop at the beautiful building …
One of the most beautiful department stores in the Netherlands. Take the escalator to the fourth floor to find yourself a new outfit. On the same floor beautiful toys and games are sold.
A great interactive exhibition featuring the wondrous artifacts of art, pop culture and the animal kingdom. If you tell your family and friends about what you’ve seen, learned and done at Ripley’s Amsterdam, they probably won’t believe you.
This building in the middle of the old centre, at Oudezijds Voorburgwal 40, doesn’t stand out. But a great secret is hidden behind its façade. If you climb the narrow stairs and pass its age-old rooms, you will discover a real church in the attic. …
This area is the oldest in town (de Oudezijds). It was built before the Golden Age (17th century) and the famous Canal Belt. The church standing in the middle has something peculiar about it. It is the oldest building in the city, so it seems …
The whole of the Netherlands in one breathtaking hour. ‘This is Holland’ shows all in a fun exhibition and great 5D Flight Experience about tulip fields, cities, water and land. Ready for take-off?
This attraction is for slightly older children (you must be at least four feet, or 120 centimetres, tall) and only those with iron nerves. At the A’DAM Lookout you swing over the edge of the top floor of the A’DAM Toren for a few minutes. …
Topped with hot chocolate sauce, banana or red fruits, or a savory fried egg? Or the Dutch way with syrup and powdered sugar? At Pancakes Amsterdam you can order no less than 30 different types of pancakes, American style or thin as people in Amsterdam are …
This beautiful building on Dam Square is one of the biggest churches in Amsterdam. It’s now used as an exhibition area (check online for what’s being exhibited), for royal weddings and the coronation of new kings and queens.
Bowling, Laser Tag and Glow in the Dark Miniature Golf. There’s fun here for the whole family and good food too! If you still have a good voice after those activities, maybe you might enjoy karaoke. Games hall Aloha is less than five minutes from …
Even in summer, the weather can be quite bad in Amsterdam. Eye Film Museum is the place to be when it rains (but it’s also quite enjoyable when the weather is good). Take a look at the beautiful exhibition on the Panorama Deck and learn all …
Adolph Krasnapolsky was a very successfull tailor on Nieuwendijk. With his fortune, he built one of the first hotels in the city with a beautiful Winter garden (wintertuin). The spacious and beautifully decorated hall is a great place to start the day. Ask for the special kids …
Anne Frank is the most famous girl who ever lived in Amsterdam. And that is mainly due to her diary in which she wrote about her life while hiding during the Second World War. The Germans who occupied the Netherlands captured Jewish people and took …
Spears, swords, shields, paintings, statues, maps and photographs. This museum on the edge of Oosterpark is one big discovery. You will learn all about cultures and customs from all over the world. Keep your eyes and ears open during a tour as a ‘museum inspector’; …
The oldest and most well-known restaurant with an all-Dutch menu. This restaurant is cosy, though its name (the five flies) suggests otherwise.
A scary adventure that takes you back to the city’s darkest history. A tour through the Dungeon allows only children of 10 years and older. Do you dare?
If mice deserve a museum, so do cats. Het Kattenkabinet (The Cat Cabinet) is located in the Gouden Bocht (the Golden Bend), the most expensive part of Herengracht. You can see a tribute by the Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, to his cat, a beautiful one by …
To learn more about the rich life in the Golden Age, you can visit several houses in the Canal Belt. Museum van Loon is by far the most beautiful. The interior of this 1671 building has been beautifully preserved, as has the art collection of …
In this beautiful building you can see antique dollhouses, lavish 17th-century furniture and original painted walls. But the most impressive thing about the exhibition at Grachtenmuseum (Canal Museum) is the interactive show in which the development of Amsterdam can be followed in a lightshow on a …
From Egyptian art and Roman weapons to everything that was recently found deep underground at the construction of the new subway: pots, pans, pipes and art objects. Allard Pierson Museum is dedicated to international and Dutch cultural history and offers an educational trip for the whole …
This beautiful green place is almost four hundred years old and was built as a nursery garden for herbs for pharmacists and doctors in the city.
When the weather is nice, you can paddle in the shallow pond behind the Rijksmuseum (and when it freezes you can ice skate there). And if it rains and storms? Well, just go to the building next to it. The 125-year-old Zuiderbad is one of …
Art becomes art if it is different from anything that has been made before and if the painting, sculpture or photograph inspires people, making them happy or sad, creative or angry. Vincent van Gogh is one of the most famous Dutch artists in history and …
They say that everything sounds beautiful in the Concertgebouw (Concert Hall). Well, let’s try that out. In this beautiful building, special concerts are held for children. Sing along! There are even baby performances for the youngest. Come a bit early to walk around the building and …
This building with its large courtyard and attractive garden, Het Amstelhof, was until about 20 years ago used as a home for elderly Amsterdammers. Today, part of the collection of the famous museum The Hermitage of St. Petersburg in Russia is on display. Some paintings …
If diamond is the hardest stone there is, how do you cut it into a beautiful shiny jewel? With diamond (powder)! Amsterdam was and is a real diamond city. Everywhere in the old Jewish quarter there were large and smaller polishing factories and shops where the …
Hansje en Grietje (Hansel and Gretel), which is opposite the entrance to the Rijksmuseum, has been serving pancakes for nearly 150 years to hungry museum visitors. They must be doing something right. To make sure you have a table, make a reservation.
The most beautiful small shops have been here since the 17th century. Mint Mini Mall (Runstraat 27) sells backpacks, slippers, jackets and gifts. Game Keeper on the Hartenstraat is a specialty store focused on board games and souvenirs. On the corner of Berenstraat, the second-hand …
The history of Amsterdam has largely unfolded in the harbour. Several tour boats depart from the station and elsewhere in the city and take you through the centre and across ’t IJ in an hour. But you can also go to the North of Amsterdam …
Beautiful model ships, original cannons, swords, pistols and other weaponry, as well as impressive paintings of naval battles…. Swashbuckling times from the 17th century come to life in Amsterdam’s Scheepvaartmuseum (maritime museum), which has the second largest collection of maritime objects in the world. The …
A beautifully designed English garden, with art, historical artifacts (such as the arch around the corner on the western side of the museum) and even a little pond. The garden of Rijksmuseum is free to visit and a great place to enjoy a stroll or …
Well… here’s a building you did not expect in the centre of Amsterdam. This Buddhist temple is called The Lotus Flower in Chinese and was built for the large Asian community in the area. As you pass by, you catch the scent of incense. Inside, …
This is the largest church with the highest tower in Amsterdam. Visit the church in the morning when the sunlight shines through the large windows. Enjoy the spectucular view from Westertoren in the digital tour.
At the bottom of A’DAM Toren you will find one of the best hamburger restaurants in Amsterdam, where you can choose from 18 different sandwiches. Our favourite drink: a big milkshake! Chose from one of many exciting flavours. The Butcher serves a great vegan burger.
It isn’t the biggest or most important bridge, nor was it the most expensive to build. Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge), however, is the most famous one.
Beautifully coloured birds that fly back and forth. Dangerous crocodiles waiting with their mouth wide open for a tasty bite to land on their tongue. Playful monkeys jumping from one play instrument to another. Large, impressive elephants, and slightly smaller adorable ones. Camels eating a …
This adventure park is still in Amsterdam, but it will take you quite a while to get there. Het Woeste Westen (The Wild West) is divided into several islands, each with its own theme. Play hide and seek with other children on Weilandeiland, go rafting …
Most buildings have one door or gate. Some important ones have two. De Waag (the weighing house) on Nieuwmarkt (New Market) had no less than 10 at a certain point! The building was first constructed as a medieval city gate and was used as a meeting …
See everything in the harbour and enjoy the tastiest Dutch pancakes at the same time. The Pannenboekenboot takes you on a 45-minute boat trip from the Far West of ’t IJ to the Far East, past shipyards, harbours and parts of Amsterdam that you would …
You learn the most by doing, they say. At science museum NEMO, you are invited to do all sorts of exciting experiments with which you learn everything about nature, energy, electricity, mathematics, machinery and innovation. This exhibition on five floors, in the most striking building …
Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer and Frans Hals are some of the greatest painters of the 17th century. You can see their most famous works in the Gallery of Honour on the second floor of Rijksmuseum. All Dutch 18th and 19th century art (including paintings …
Modern art is usually very colourful, a bit crazy and often very funny. The largest modern art museum in Amsterdam is Stedelijk Museum. You enter through the new part of the building, which resembles a gigantic bathtub. At the entrance, ask for a WhatsApp children’s …
Rembrandt van Rijn lived and worked in this house. The museum’s collection consists of many sketches and drawings: the studies for Rembrandt’s masterpieces.
On this floating restaurant you can imagine yourself in the Far East. The Sea Palace has three floors and more than 600 seats and is a copy of a famous restaurant in Hong Kong. You also have a beautiful view over the city centre and …
In the Netherlands, people pay with euros, just as in many other countries in Europe. If you are not familiar with euros, it can sometimes be difficult to calculate how much something you like really costs. But don’t worry, shop owners are more than happy to help you. Before euros were introduced, the Dutch …
Nowadays you can buy a bag of flower bulbs at Flower Market near Mint Square for a few euros and grow the most beautiful tulips at home. But that has not always been the case. In the 17th century, a few years after the introduction …
Nowadays you can buy a bag of flower bulbs at Flower Market near Mint Square for a few euros and grow the most beautiful tulips at home. But that has not always been the case. In the 17th century, a few years after the introduction of the tulip in Amsterdam, its popularity grew …
This area is the oldest in town (de Oudezijds). It was built before the Golden Age (17th century) and the famous Canal Belt. The church standing in the middle has something peculiar about it. It is the oldest building in the city, so it seems quite understandable that it is now called Oude …
Walking down Damrak to Dam Square, is like going back in time. For centuries, merchants from all over the world entered the city this way: Amsterdam has been a trading city since the 17th century, a place where goods from every corner on the globe were offered and sold. Imagine that you …
